Holy Cross Connections. Holy Cross Connections. What are God s Goals for Us in 2016? Ephiphany Jan 6. Pr. Kip

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1 Holy Cross Connections Upcoming Events: Holy Cross Connections January 2015 January 6 HCU Winter Qtr. Begins February 10 Ash Wednesday February 21 Sweetheart Dinner Inside this issue: Holy Cross Youth 2 HCU Winter Quarter 2 Ladies Book Discussion 3 Angel Tree Thank You 3 Young at Heart 3 Holy Cross 3 50th Anniversary 3 Congratulations 3 Thank You from Pr. Bernard 4 Text Message Alerts 5 NIB Thank You Vision & Leadership Board School Mission & Ministry News NIB Pictures Ephiphany Jan 6 What are your goals for 2016? Is your goal to start exercising, lose a few pounds, remodel a room, take up a new hobby, go on a trip, plan a wedding? It s fun to set goals and make plans for ourselves. It gives us something to look forward to and to work on. Lora and I already made our reservations for 2 separate weeks of vacation this coming year. I pray you have some exciting things on your horizon in 2016 as well. Have you ever stopped to ask, God, what goals do you have for me in 2016? We are all pretty good at telling God what we want Him to do for us. Turn the tables and ask, Holy Spirit what is it that You want me to work on in my life? Is there any spiritual exercise that I need to work into my routine so that I can become more spiritually fit and attractive in Your eyes? Is there a sinful habit that I need to get rid of, or an attitude that I need to adjust in order to become more like Jesus? Is there a ministry area that You want me to get involved with? Holy Cross is Celebrating 50 years of Pressing On toward the goal for which God has called us this year. God has enabled us to do some pretty great stuff over the course of these 50 years. This congregation has been blessed to be a blessing in a multitude of ways. But, God is not done with us -- as individuals or as a community of believers. We have yet to reach our God-given potential for mission and ministry. He still has plans for us, to prosper us in ministry. The Holy Spirit has exciting things that He wants to accomplish in us, for us, and through us. So I ask you, What are the things that our church needs to do to become the church that God wants us to be for the sake of His kingdom? How does God want you to help in these things? We have plateaued over the past couple of years. In fact, our average Sunday attendance has declined by about 15 people. While lots of great mission and ministry continue to happen among us, we have lost some of our spiritual fervor. God has not called us to coast. He has called us to press on toward His goal for us as His church. I pray and I trust that as we seek God s goals for us in 2016, the Lord Jesus will bless and invigorate us in unforeseen ways! Happy New Year! Pr. Kip What are God s Goals for Us in 2016?

2 Page 2 January Holy Cross Youth Goings-on on Holy Cross Connections Happy blessed New Year! I pray you and your families had a blessed Christmas celebration of our Lord Jesus! Thank you for your kindness in thinking of me and my family over the season! You are a true joy and blessing to work with! Registrations for the Ohio District Junior (6-8 th grade) Youth Gathering are now OPEN! Please see your church mailbox for registration forms and more info as well as on the youth bulletin board! Deadline to have completed forms in to me is Wednesday, January 27! Looking forward to a great weekend with our Middle-schoolers! Adult chaperones/drivers are very needed! Thanks! Sunday, January 17 (long weekend!) will be our first youth open gym night of 2016! We will meet every 3rd Sunday from 7-8:30 and alternate between basketball, volleyball, and dodgeball (maybe youth against parents, church staff? lol!) All youth and friends and brave adults are welcome! Please bring your own drinks (water, Gatorade) and parent helpers are always appreciated. Thanks! Our next Youth parent meeting will be Wednesday, January 13 at 7:30 p.m. (after HCU) in the church Café. Please plan on attending & RSVP! Have a great month! Holy Cross Winter Quarter 2016 We are kicking our HCU 2016 year off big on January 6 at 6:30 p.m.! Adult highlights: Pastor Kip will be finishing up Living Discipleship, Vicar Joe will lead an introduction class to Islam and Christian Objections, and a possible Discipleship Core being healthy spiritually and physically, and/or another Women s study are in the works! More info coming soon in your course catalogs! If you have any ideas/ would like to lead an elective in Holy Cross U. please contact Lorin Zuppe. We are always looking for fresh new classes to continue Learning of Jesus, Live for Jesus, and Lead Others to Jesus! 1/6-2/3 6: p.m. Winter Quarter 1/6-2/03/16 Lent 2/10-3/16/16 Holy Week-Off 3/23/16 Spring Quarter 3/30-5/18/16 Confirmation 5/21-5/22/16 5/22/16.

3 Holy Cross Connections Page 3 Ladies Book Discussion Please note...the first Ladies Book Discussion Group of 2016 will be on January 11th and the book will be An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11 yr. old... by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski. Remember...you are now be responsible to acquire your own book by whatever method you choose library, store, ipad, kindle, etc. Please come and join us! Hostess and Leader will be Joy Walko and Tammy Hromiak. Mom s Group January Mom s Group will be held at... Sarah O Briskie s House 920 Brushmore North Canton On January 14th Come at 7:00 and stay as long as you need to! Angel Tree Thank you for your generous donations of toys and clothing for the Angel Tree. The gifts were delivered to McGregor School on Tuesday, December 16 and Wednesday, December 17. This year, we served 22 families with 75 children for a total of 150 gifts. Again, thank you! Young at Heart No meeting this month, see you in February! 50TH ANNIVERSARY HALL OF MEMORIES TIMELINE More Wedding Anniversaries added to Hall of Memories Timeline... Responding to popular demand, more heart-shaped event markers have been added to commemorate long-term wedding anniversaries. Markers are now available for 25, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years. New forms are at the Welcome Desks. Holy Cross Crafters Let s get together! It s a new year and a new opportunity to let our shut-ins know they re an important part of Holy Cross. The crafters will gather on Tuesday evening, January 7:00 PM in Room M-6. Cindy Ickes will inspire us with 2 different cards for us to make. Just bring a pair of scissors and $2.00 to defray costs. Come and bring a friend! CONGRATULATIONS!! Taylor Ulik was selected to join Karen Dutton, our LCMS Ohio District Youth Coordinator, to join her at the LYF National Leadership Convention in St. Louis, Missouri in March. Taylor was selected to serve on the Ohio District Board for the year and through that her leadership potential was recognized and she was selected for this privilege. It's been a joy and an honor for her to serve our Lord at this level at her age.

4 Holy Cross Connections Page 4 WELL DONE AND THANK YOU! FROM PASTOR BERNARD To: The Saints of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, North Canton, Ohio. Dear friends in Christ: I am overwhelmed with joy as I am writing you this letter to greet you on behalf of all the saints of the five Evangelical Lutheran Churches in the North of Haiti. I would like to introduce my letter to you with these words barrowed from the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 9: "As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for the food will supply and multiply for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce Thanksgiving. For the ministry of this service not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others". As I mention it in the beginning of this thank-you letter, I am using those words from the Apostle Paul who, in a special way was expressing his gratitude to the Corinthians because of their support and generosity to the people of Macedonia who were in great need. Dear friends in Christ, what you have accomplished on our behalf here is no different if not even more than what the Corinthians were doing for the Macedonians. I do not know how much the Macedonians received from the Corinthians, but for us here we received lot from you and want to say thank you. In this letter I am not mentioning all that has been accomplished since you start supporting the Lord's ministry here but just want to give you an overview of the new school year started this year on September the 7th. We give thanks to God from September through December, all the children of the five schools and few more new ones are attending school every day, from Monday through Friday. In these 5 schools we actually have a total 1,450 children, 58 teachers including the staff I mean principals and care takers. We give thanks to God that through the generosity of the members of Holy Cross, the children from the school at Madeline have access with a hot meal per day, a privilege that were about to loose because Trinity Hope was not able to feed that school as the number of students attending turned from 170 to 575, and also the teachers of the 5 schools are receiving their salaries every month even though we have debts behind for them but without your generous contribution the situation would be very difficult and we Wonder if we would not close some of our schools because we would not be able to assist our teachers. When we look back from where we were to where we actually are, we can say with the Psalter in Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad" but none of those great things would be accomplished without your ongoing and generous support. Let me share with you what we have accomplished since the new school year. You will see in this breakdown what we have received from you and others, a matter of transparency. Projects approved and supported by Holy Cross: I. Increase the capacity of the Chicken Farm: A. A grinder to prepare feed for the chicken $5,200 B. Generator $3,500 C. Layers to produce fresh eggs $1,200 D. Support to the pews at Madeline $1,500 E. Security Dorrs at Dondon $2,000 F. Kitchen at Grande Riviere du Nord $2,000 Total received from Holy Cross for Projects from August through December 2015 $15, Dear friends in Christ, again thank you very so much for everything and every blessing you share with us as partners in the Gospel. It is my wishes for you all who support my ministry at North of Haiti that "the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" Amen! You, the dear people of Holy Cross, have contributed and we have sent down to the northern district of Haiti $38,400 from August through December Because of your generosity, the teachers have also been fully paid through the end of December. You are a blessing!! Pastor Kip

5 Holy Cross Connections Page 5 Text Message Alerts With the coming of cold weather, there is the increased possibility of event cancellations. Last year, we implemented a text-messaging system to alert you of cancellations beyond our normal e-blasts and website banner messages. If you would like to receive a text in the event of a cancellation, please fill out the form located at the Welcome Centers. If your cell phone number has remained the same during the last year, it is still on our list. If not, please fill out a paper with your new number and submit it to Katie Stiver. NIB THANK YOU A huge thank you goes out to all who helped make this year s Night in Bethlehem a huge success! 1750 people toured the town, with about 60% being first time attendees. The Gospel was spoken directly and indirectly, and a number of moving events took place. A modest estimate of those who worked JUST the one week prior to the event and clean-up is 194 people giving 756 hours of their time! In one week! This does not include those who baked for the bakery or made candy for the candy shop or who donated their time in intangible ways! This is, indeed, our gift for the community a a huge effort but oh, so worth the investment. We are taking our world to their world! Without our world as followers of Jesus, there would be no world! Thanks, one and all! Vonnie LaRue

6 Holy Cross Connections Page 6 School Mission and Ministry News Our Christmas celebrations were very well attended. There were 460 people here on Friday and 530 on Sunday. Thank you members of the Festival Choir and the Bell Choir for the half-hour of Christmas music before the Sunday program. A special thanks to Alan Stiver for narrating a hand bell version of the Three Wise Men. We also thank the ladies of the Link Group who helped serve at both receptions. We praise you, God for the privilege of serving You! The two-year-old class has spent the month of December learning about the reason for the season: Jesus! They spent each week this month learning about a different aspect of the nativity. They learned about the stable and the animals that were present at Jesus birth. They made mangers and decided that they would not want to sleep in a bed of hay! Then they learned about Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. The children know that Jesus was a baby who needed his mother s care. They made their own baby Jesus doll to care for and to remind them of God s love. They learned that people came to see Jesus and bring Him gifts because He was sent by God. Today... a Savior has been born. Luke 2:11. They finished the month with a birthday party for Jesus. There is no doubt that each child knows whose birthday is celebrated at Christmas. (Mrs. Anne Hankins, Mrs. Terri Haynam & Mrs. Gayle Leech) The three-year-old children enjoyed the month of December as they prepared for Jesus Birthday. They enjoyed singing Christmas songs and loved performing in the Christmas programs. The children learned how people all over the world celebrate Jesus birth. They prayed that all people will come to trust in Jesus as their Savior. The children enjoyed making Christmas decorations for their homes. During Bible time, the children learned about the angels, shepherds, Mary and Joseph, the star, and the birth or our Savior, Jesus! They also learned that sharing the Christmas Story with others can be the most special gift we can give! The children made a candy cane cradle for Jesus to lay in. They also made a picture of a manger using popsicle sticks. The threes had a great month. They enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and were encouraged to sing it to Him on Christmas morning! (Mrs. Janet Eagon & Mrs. Patty Wallace) There are many ways to explore the wonderful story of the birth of Jesus. Through songs, finger-plays, books, and puzzles the four-year-old children learned well the lesson of the greatest gift of Christmas, Jesus. The children really enjoyed performing their Christmas songs for their families as they also learned about how the angels shared the good news with the shepherds. We pray that like the shepherds, the children will meet Jesus and know that He is God. The four-year-olds kept up with their alphabet themes. They learned about the letter I by making, an Insect, an Iguana and an Igloo. They also learned the number 5. (Mrs. Teri Hockman, Mrs. Gayle Leech & Mrs. Sue Owens) The Pre-Kindergarten class coordinated a study of the five senses with their Christmas celebration. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of Christmas are such rich sensual experiences that Jesus birthday became even more wondrous to them. The songs they sang at the Christmas program have become very special to them and they continue to enjoy singing them each day during their daily Bible Time. The emphasis has been that God gave us the best present of all when He gave us Jesus. The class nativity sets are available each day for the children to move the figures and tell the story of Jesus birth to each other. (Mrs. Leslie Martin & Mrs. Christina Jacobsen) The Kindergarten children started the month with two Christmas programs. They told about how great our God is and even though He is a busy God, He always has time to talk to His children. The children did a great job playing Jesus Loves Me on the hand bells, followed by showing how excited they are by jumping, clapping and praising His name. They shared the first verse of Silent Night, telling the families and friends about a special Holy night that a selfless God came to earth as a baby born in a barn. The children know that little baby grew up to be a boy and then a man who died so they could live forever. In Social Studies they traveled to Tennessee and Kentucky to see the Great Smokey Mountains, and Mammoth Cave. They saw pictures of the biggest baseball bat outside the Louisville Slugger Museum and of Mud Island in Memphis. They studied graphs, shapes and symmetry in math. Their phonics skills continue as they become more adept at sounding out words. They also learned names often have special meanings. Our Savior is called Immanuel, which means God with us. We are so thankful God sent us the greatest gift of all ~ His son, Jesus! Happy birthday, Jesus!! (Mrs. Angie Linsky) Registration for the school years begins the end of January. If you have a child of preschool or kindergarten age, please contact Marjorie James at We would like to wish all of you a wonderful celebration of Christ s birth and a blessed New Year. Marjorie James

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8 Holy Cross Lutheran 7707 North Market Avenue North Canton, OH Non-Profit U.S. Postage P A I D Canton, OH Permit No. 123 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED is a Christ-centered, friendly, mission-minded, Bible-based community of believers who strive to carry out ministry with integrity and excellence. DVDs of Sunday worship services are on the counter in the north and south hallways. Audio is on the website. Sunday Mornings At Holy Cross 8:00 AM Liturgy of Praise Traditional Worship 8:45 AM Majestic Praise Blended Worship 8:45 AM Adult Bible Class 10:00 AM Sunday School, Youth Bible Class, and Adult Bible Hour 11:00 AM Expressions of Praise Contemporary Worship February Newsletter Deadline Sunday, January 19 Office Phone Office FAX Preschool info@holycrossnorthcanton.com Richard Kip Smith, Senior Pastor Ralph Hough, Associate Pastor Ted Voss, Pastor Emeritus Mr. Joel Maze, Audio/Visual Tech Coordinator Mrs. Lorin Zuppe Director of Youth Ministries & Children s Ministry Mrs. Christi Ludwig Assistant Director of Children s Ministry Mrs. Judy O Briskie, Office Manager Mrs. Katie Stiver, Soul Accounting Secretary Mrs. Rose Ann Crowder, Visitation Coordinator Mrs. Diane Diehl, Stephen Ministry Mr. Richard Reed, Property Manager Mrs. Marjorie James Holy Cross School Administrator